According to the statistics provided by the CCSA, View Park Middle School (VPMS) appears to be accelerating towards failure. In 2015, the charter’s Similar Students Rank was a mediocre four out of ten. Last year, it dropped to a one out of ten. Included in a “Findings of Fact” dated January 10, 2017, the LAUSD Charter School Division (CSD) noted that, on the 2014-15 SBAC assessment, only 5% of VPMS’ students met or exceeded the performance standards in math. In 2015-2016, this dropped to 3%. In both years, 0% of students with disabilities met or exceeded these standards. These statistics are part of the reason that the CSD found that VPMS “has presented an unsound educational program” and recommended that the LAUSD Board deny its renewal petition. With a 4-3-0 vote, the Board ignored this recommendation and the charter will continue to operate.

If García’s vote was truly about respecting that “parents made a choice”, then one would expect that she would consistently side with parents and their ability to choose the educational setting they felt was best for their children. However, last June she voted to continue fighting parents of children with severe needs in court rather than provide them the continued option of sending their children to special education centers. Perhaps these parents should have followed the lead of the charter industry and donated massive amounts of money to her re-election campaign. This seems to get her attention.